Hurricane Fiona is estimated to be the costliest extreme weather event ever recorded in Atlantic Canada at $660 million in insured damage.
The initial data comes from Catastrophe Indices and Quantification Inc, and also estimates the event was the tenth costliest in Canada– surpassing the 2011 Slave Lake wildfire. The storm first made landfall in Atlantic Canada on September 24, 2022.
With maximum wind gusts exceeding 100 km/h in Atlantic Canada and Eastern Quebec, Hurricane Fiona resulted in tragic loss of life as well as violent winds, torrential rainfall, large waves, storm surge, downed trees and widespread power outages.
Many affected residents were located in high-risk flood areas and floodplains where residential flood insurance coverage is not available. As a result,
More than $385 million was recorded in Nova Scotia alone, where power outages topped 415,000 customers in Nova Scotia on September, leaving about 80 per cent of the province without power.
“As we begin to see the extent of damages caused by Hurricane Fiona, it is clear that much more needs to be done to enhance our resilience to extreme weather events and build a culture of preparedness moving forward,” said Amanda Dean, vice-president, Atlantic, Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC). “Climate change is real, and the fatalities, emotional turmoil and financial consequences we’ve witnessed must be a call to action – we must prioritize the protection of all Canadians from the impacts of climate change.”
Insurance claims from severe weather have more than quadrupled across Canada since 2008. The new normal for insured catastrophic damages in Canada has reached $2 billion annually. IBC continues to advocate for governments to act on the urgent need to do more to prioritize investments that build resilience and better protect families and communities from a changing climate.
IBC has put forward options to create a residential flood insurance program – including a public-private partnership model – that would make affordable insurance available to residents of high-risk areas, and also a national adaptation strategy, including a high-risk flood insurance pool, to address climate-related disasters.
